Crime numbers state case for police reaction

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JEWEL SAMAD, AFP/Getty Images

Police take cover outside the police station in Ferguson, Mo., on Nov. 24, as demonstrators throw bottles at them after learning that the police officer who shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown will not face charges.

Police take cover outside the police station in Ferguson, Mo., on Nov. 24, as demonstrators throw bottles at them after learning that the police officer who shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown will not face charges. (JEWEL SAMAD, AFP/Getty Images)

A few clicks will also reveal government-maintained crime statistics as they relate to racial demographics. We've all seen the numbers and they point to the inconvenient fact that a significantly disproportionate percent of violent crimes are being committed by the nonwhite population.

This is not prejudice or racism. It's math. Regardless of how it's viewed in the aggregate, one thing is for certain. These statistics are subliminally embedded in the minds of anyone who has seen them, including law enforcement.

While Pitts would like the police to ignore them, the statistics are sometimes used in that split-second decision police often have to make. I think the solution most of us would like to see is a more uniform distribution of violent crime among all demographics.

Unfortunately, what people see on the evening news is rioting, looting, vandalism and arson, often with the perceived stamp of approval of some of the people we elect.